A new Maori Queen was anointed Thursday, taking on the role at a time when New Zealand is facing some of the biggest challenges to race relations in two decades.

A statement released by representatives said Nga Wai Hono i te Po had been chosen by Maori elders to replace her father, King Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII, who died aged 69 last week following surgery.

“The new monarch was raised up in a ceremony known as Te Whakawahinga, in front of thousands of people gathered for the tangihanga (funeral and burial) of Kiingi Tuheitia,” a spokesperson for the Kiingitanga or royal family said.

The new queen is not crowned and instead a bible that has been used since 1858 was placed upon her head and Archbishop Don Tamihere used sacred oils to bestow prestige, sacredness, power and spiritual essence upon her.

Thousands gathered at Tuurangawaewae, the meeting place of the King movement, to farewell him in a traditional funeral.

Following the anointment of his daughter, the King’s coffin was taken to the Waikato River by hearse before being paddled in a flotilla of traditional Maori waka or canoe to Taupiri Mountain, where he was to be buried alongside other royals and high-profile Maori.

The Maori King or Queen is considered the paramount chief of several tribes, or iwi, but is not affiliated with all of them. The monarch’s role has no judicial or legal authority in New Zealand and is largely ceremonial.

The role is not necessarily hereditary but voted on by representatives from iwi across the country. The new queen, or Kuini, is the only daughter and youngest child of the former King and his wife Te Atawhai Makau Ariki and is aged 27.

Radio New Zealand says that the new monarch, who has two older brothers, was favored to ascend the throne, although it had not been a foregone conclusion.

The new queen holds a Master of Arts in Tikanga (societal lore of) Maori and has served on a number of boards include that of the Te Kohanga Reo National Trust, an organization charged with revitalizing Maori language, according to 1News.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the government welcomed the new queen’s appointment as she carries forward the mantle of leadership left by her father.

Her anointment comes at a time when New Zealand is struggling with race relations.

New Zealand’s center-right coalition which took office last year has started undoing policies of previous governments, particularly those promoting the official use of the Maori language, the enhancement of Indigenous living standards and rights and efforts to repair some of the wrongs undertaken during colonization.

King Tuheitia held a gathering of tribes from across the country in January to discuss how to respond to government plans. As King Tuheitia told the thousands who attended that their voices matter, his daughter, the new queen stood beside him.

Michel Barnier, the EU’s former chief Brexit negotiator, has been named France’s new prime minister, the French president’s office says, ending two months of stalemate following inconclusive parliamentary elections.

In a statement on Thursday, the Élysée Palace said: “The President of the Republic has appointed Michel Barnier as Prime Minister. He has to form a united government to serve the country and the French people.”

The statement added that Barnier’s appointment comes after “an unprecedented cycle of consultations” in order to ensure a stable government.

Barnier, 73, a staunch Europhile, is a member of the Republicans party which represents the traditional right. He is best known on the international stage for his role in mediating the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union.

A 40-year veteran of French and European politics, Barnier has held various ministerial positions in France, including roles as foreign, agriculture and environment ministers. He served twice as a European commissioner as well as an adviser to President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. In 2021, Barnier announced his bid for presidential elections but failed to garner enough support within his party.

Macron accepted the resignation of former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and his government in July, after his centrist Ensemble alliance was defeated in the second round of France’s snap parliamentary election. The president has since faced calls from across the political divide to name a new PM. Last week, Macron told journalists during a trip to Serbia he was “making all the necessary efforts” to finalize a name.

Barnier’s prospects for forming a stable government are unclear. Currently, France’s far-right National Rally (RN) is one of the largest parties in parliament following the election in early July. It has previously suggested it could be open to working with Barnier and would not immediately veto him.

Still, RN politician Laurent Jacobelli spoke disparagingly of Barnier, telling French television network TF1: “They are taking out of mothballs those who have governed France for 40 years.”

Barnier served as the chief negotiator during the UK’s exit from the European Union. The lengthy talks between London and Brussels ran from 2016 to 2021 and he is known among Brexiteers in the UK for driving a hard bargain.

Born in January 1951 in a suburb of the Alpine city of Grenoble, Barnier was first elected to parliament at the age of 27.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday was as clear as he has ever been about how he views a ceasefire and hostage agreement with Hamas.

“There’s not a deal in the making,” he told Fox News. “Unfortunately, it’s not close.”

“It’s exactly inaccurate. There’s a story, a narrative out there, that there’s a deal out there.”

Hamas “don’t agree to anything. Not to the Philadelphi Corridor, not to the keys of exchanging hostages for jailed terrorists, not to anything. So that’s just a false narrative.”

Netanyahu is facing mounting accusations that he has purposefully blocked a deal with Hamas. The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, citing a document it obtained, reported that Netanyahu in July effectively spiked a draft hostage and ceasefire deal by introducing a raft of new, eleventh-hour demands.

In the Fox News interview, Netanyahu rejected allegations that he has obstructed a deal.

“The obstacle to the end of this war is Hamas. The obstacle to the release of hostages is Hamas. The ones who butchered in a sling, murdering six people in cold blood, riddling them with bullets and then firing bullets into their heads is Hamas. It’s not Israel. It’s not me.”

Netanyahu was also questioned about reports that the families of American hostages still held by Hamas are lobbying the US Administration to unilaterally seek their loved ones’ release.

“I don’t know,” he said. “You know, I don’t judge the families. They’re going through enormous anguish.”

Two loggers have been killed by bow and arrow after allegedly encroaching the land of the uncontacted Mashco Piro Indigenous tribe deep in Peru’s Amazon, according to a rights group.

The group, known as FENAMAD, defends the rights of Peru’s Indigenous peoples. It says tensions between loggers and Indigenous tribes are on the rise and more government protective action is needed.

Two other loggers in the attack were missing and another was injured, FENAMAD said, and rescue efforts were underway.

The rights group, which represents 39 Indigenous communities in the Cusco and Madre de Dios regions in southeastern Peru, said the incident took place on August 29 in the Pariamanu river basin while loggers were expanding their passageways into the forest and came into contact with the reclusive and renowned territorial tribe.

“The Peruvian state has not taken preventive and protective measures to ensure the lives and integrity of the workers who have been gravely affected,” the group said in a statement Tuesday, adding authorities have yet to arrive in the area since the incident.

FENAMAD said the attack happened just 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) from a July incident, when the Mashco Piro again attacked loggers. The group said in their statement that even though they advised the government of the risk of a rise in violence, nothing has been done.

“It’s a heated and tense situation,” said Cesar Ipenza, an Amazon-based lawyer who specializes in environmental law in Peru. “Undoubtedly, every day there are more tensions between Indigenous peoples in isolation and the different activities that are within the territory that they ancestrally pass through.”

There have been several other previous reports of conflicts. In one incident in 2022, two loggers were shot with arrows while fishing, one fatally, in an encounter with tribal members.

In January, Peru loosened restrictions on deforestation, which critics dubbed the “anti-forest law.” Researchers have since warned of the rise in deforestation for agriculture and how it is making it easier for illicit logging and mining.

Ipenaza said some effort has been made by authorities in the area, like mobilizing a helicopter, but overall there has been “little commitment” by Peru’s Ministry of Culture, responsible for the protection of Indigenous peoples.

The Ministry of Culture did not immediately respond to a message Wednesday seeking comment on the attack and their protection efforts.

The attack took place a day before the Forest Stewardship Council suspended the sustainability certification of a logging company for eight months which rights groups and activists have accused of encroaching on the Indigenous group’s land.

“It’s absurd that certifiers like the FSC keep the certification of companies that clearly and openly violate basic human rights and Indigenous rights,” said Julia Urrunaga, director of the Peru program at the Environmental Investigation Agency. “How terrible that people have to keep dying and that it has to be an international scandal for action to be taken.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin raised eyebrows Thursday when he expressed his support for US Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid, flattering the Democratic nominee with some curiously timed remarks.

“Our ‘favorite,’ if you can call it that, was the current president, Mr. [Joe] Biden. But he was removed from the race, and he recommended all his supporters to support Ms. Harris. Well, we will do so – we will support her,” Putin said Thursday at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. “She laughs so expressively and infectiously that it means that she is doing well.”

Putin also criticized former president and current Republican nominee Donald Trump for placing “so many restrictions and sanctions against Russia like no other president has ever introduced before him.”

Putin’s comments come on the heels of sweeping sanctions announced by the Biden administration to combat a Russian government-backed disinformation effort to influence the 2024 elections and boost Trump’s candidacy.

So what is Putin trying to accomplish?

If the past is any guide, Putin is simply stirring the pot of US domestic politics. In December 2015, Putin praised Trump, calling him the front-runner months before the businessman secured the Republican nomination.

And despite the Russian leader’s vocal support of the Democrats, US Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said on Wednesday that three Russian companies – at Putin’s direction – used fake profiles to promote false narratives on social media. Internal documents produced by one of those Russian companies show one of the goals of the propaganda effort was to support Trump’s candidacy or whoever emerged as the Republican nominee for president, according to an FBI affidavit.

“He is a bright and talented person without any doubt,” Putin said, calling Trump “an outstanding and talented personality.”

Did Putin know something about the 2016 US presidential elections that the pollsters didn’t? No, but the Kremlin leader did little to conceal his dislike of Hillary Clinton, then the likely Democratic nominee.

And when purloined Democratic National Committee emails were leaked just ahead of the Democratic National Convention, Putin did not hide his glee.

While US officials pointed a firm finger of blame at Russia for the hack, Putin denied the Russian state had anything to do with it. And in remarks at the same forum in September 2016, he praised the leak as a sort of service to the voters, saying, “The important thing is the content that was given to the public.”

That content being the embarrassing revelation in the leaked emails that Democratic officials gave preferential treatment to Clinton.

In other words, the whole DNC hack episode supported the Kremlin’s view that American democracy is a sham: Nothing matters but power, everything is decided in smoke-filled rooms, and hectoring countries like Russia about adherence to democracy and human rights is hypocritical.

Putin’s view of the American political system makes even more sense when we are reminded of an insight from exiled Russian political journalist Mikhail Zygar, the author of “All the Kremlin’s Men.”

Zygar noted that Putin loved “House of Cards” – the darkly cynical television series about Washington politics – and even recommended it to his ministers.

“That’s his American politics textbook,” Zygar said in an interview.

It’s also possible that Putin was simply trolling Harris by winking at a consistent insult from Trump about the way she laughs.

So if Putin’s take on US election politics is seen through the lens of “House of Cards,” then, Putin’s support of Harris is a sort of Frank Underwood move: A kind of endorsement poisonous to its recipient.

Additional reporting by Anna Chernova and Christian Edwards.

Initial autopsies of four of the seven victims who died when a superyacht sank in a storm in Italy last month show they died of “dry drowning,” according to authorities.

The phenomenon, also known as “atypical drowning,” means they had no water in their lungs, tracheas or stomachs, said a spokesperson for the lawyer of the captain of the Bayesian, which went down off the coast of the Sicilian port of Porticello on August 19.

The cause of death of the first four victims suggests that they had found an air bubble in the cabin in which five of the victims’ bodies were discovered, and had consumed all the oxygen before the air pocket turned toxic due to carbon dioxide, according to local media reports.

The autopsies of American lawyer Chris Morvillo, his wife Neda Morvillo, Morgan Stanley banker Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Anne Elizabeth Judith Bloomer were carried out on Wednesday at the Forensic Medicine Institute of the Palermo Polyclinic hospital, officials said.

Autopsies on British tech titan Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter are expected to be carried out on Friday.

No date has been set yet for the autopsy of Recaldo Thomas, the ship’s onboard chef – due to the difficulty reaching his family in Antigua.

All seven victims were scanned for injuries last Saturday, which found none had suffered broken bones or other physical injuries that might have contributed to their deaths.

The prosecutor investigating the case first suggested earlier in August the idea that the victims had been searching for an air pocket.

The autopsies are part of the criminal investigation into the ship’s captain James Cutfield, the ship’s machine engineer Tim Parker Eaton and sailor Matthew Griffith, who was on watch the night of the accident. None of the men is in Italy.

They are being investigated for “multiple manslaughter” and for causing a shipwreck, but authorities say this doesn’t mean they will be charged with any crimes. They were allowed to leave the country by the prosecutor in charge of the investigation.

The 56-meter yacht sank within 16 minutes of being struck by a downburst or tornado on the early morning of August 19. The ship will have to be raised for the investigation and to ensure that the 18,000 liters of fuel onboard do not leak into the sea around the port of Porticello near Palermo.

Bids have been sent out for the salvage, which will be paid for by the company of Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares, which owns the yacht.

Toxicology results on the seven victims are expected in the coming days. No alcohol or drug tests were carried out on any of the crew members, the prosecutor said in a press conference after all the victims’ bodies had been recovered.

Lynch and his business partner Sushovan Hussain, who died after being struck by a car in London the day the Bayesian sank, had been acquitted of fraud charges in a US court in June 2024. The charges were related to the sale of their company Autonomy to Hewlett Packard, which has said it will not drop its civil lawsuit for $4 billion in damages now being heard in a UK court.

Pope Francis has repeated his divisive comments that in some countries people prefer having pets to children, a message that has struck a chord with many conservatives around the world.

The idea has re-entered the American political dialogue in the wake of a resurfaced clip of now-Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance criticizing some prominent Democrats as “childless cat ladies.”

Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019 and has written about his journey to joining the Catholic Church, also sent a series of emails that called Democratic leaders “childless sociopaths” who “don’t have a direct stake in this country.”

Pope Francis, 87, who is in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, made his remarks to political leaders as part of a 12-day tour of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. He said, “You’re an example for everyone, for all the countries that maybe, and this might sound funny, these families prefer to have a cat or a little dog instead of a child.”

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo laughed at the remark with Francis turning to him and saying, “it’s true, isn’t it?”

Francis has in the past criticized couples who choose to have pets rather than children, saying this “takes away our humanity.”

He has lamented low birth rates in Europe, particularly on his doorstep in Italy, and has backed plans by three government led by Giorgia Meloni to reverse the trend.

While US President Donald Trump’s running mate and Francis may agree on the importance of having children, the pope’s approach is at odds with Trumpism when it comes to migrants and climate change.

In 2016, Francis described then presidential candidate Trump’s plan to build a wall to stop migrants the US-Mexico border as “not Christian.”

“It reduced the threat of an enemy offensive. We prevented them from acting. We moved the fighting to the enemy’s territory so that [the enemy] could feel what we feel every day,” Syrskyi said, in a rare interview that offered a candid assessment of the war.

Last month, Ukrainian forces stormed into Kursk in a cross-border incursion that caught even American officials by surprise. It signaled that, despite Russia’s advantage in terms of men and armor, its military has vulnerabilities.

In what is the most detailed explanation of the rationale behind the incursion, Syrskyi outlined the key objectives of the operation: to stop Russia from using Kursk as a launchpad for a new offensive, to divert Moscow’s forces from other areas, to create a security zone and prevent cross-border shelling of civilian objects, to take prisoners of war and to boost the morale of the Ukrainian troops and the nation overall.

Speaking to Amanpour at an undisclosed location near the frontline, the general, who took over as army chief in February, said Moscow moved tens of thousands of troops to Kursk, including some of its best airborne assault troops.

And while admitting that Ukraine was under immense pressure in the area around Pokrovsk, the strategic city that has for weeks been the epicenter of war in eastern Ukraine, Syrskyi said his troops have now managed to stall the Russian advances there.

“Over the last six days the enemy hasn’t advanced a single meter in the Pokrovsk direction. In other words, our strategy is working.” he said.

“We’ve taken away their ability to maneuver and to deploy their reinforcement forces from other directions … and this weakening has definitely been felt in other areas. We note the amount of artillery shelling as well as the intensity of the offensive have decreased,” he said.

‘The frontline is my life’

Speaking to Amanpour just after inspecting the frontlines on Thursday, Syrskyi said that there’s no doubt that Ukraine is outgunned and outmanned as it tries to defend itself against the Russian aggression.

“The enemy does have an advantage in aviation, in missiles, in artillery, in the amount of ammunition they use, of course, in personnel, tanks, infantry fighting vehicles,” he said.

But Syrskyi also said the fact that Russia has such a material advantage has forced Ukraine to become smarter and more efficient in the way it’s fighting the war.

“We cannot fight in the same way as they do, so we must use, first of all, the most effective approach, use our forces and means with maximum use of terrain features, engineering structures and also, to use technical superiority,” he said, highlighting Ukraine’s advanced drone program and other home-grown high-tech weaponry.

Syrskyi was named Ukraine’s commander in chief in February, after President Volodymyr Zelensky fired Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi. He took over at a particularly difficult time for Ukraine.

The months-long delays in the delivery of US military assistance caused critical ammunition shortages.

At the same time, Ukraine was struggling to replenish its troops, exhausted and diminished after fighting Russia’s relentless offensive for two years.

Syrskyi said recruiting more soldiers was a priority. The Ukrainian government then passed a controversial mobilization law, requiring all men between 18 and 60 to register with Ukraine’s military and to carry their registration documents on them at all times – an effort to make the recruitment process more transparent and fair.

Syrskyi admitted his troops are heading to the battlefield after receiving less training than he’d like them to.

“Of course, everyone wants the level of training to be the best, so we train highly qualified professional military personnel,” he said. “At the same time, the dynamics at the front require us to put conscripted servicemen into service as soon as possible,” he added, explaining that new recruits get one month of basic military training followed by half a month to a full month of more specialized training before they are sent to fight.

Syrskyi told Amanpour that the delays in US military assistance did cause major setbacks on the battlefield and led to a slump in morale – something he admitted was still an issue.

He said he takes frequent trips to the frontlines and makes sure he spends time with his troops.

“We speak the same language … we understand each other no matter who I am talking to – whether this is an ordinary soldier, a rifleman, for example, or a brigade commander, or a battalion commander,” he said.

“I have been in this war since 2014,” he said, referring to Russia’s incursion into the Donbas 10 years ago. “In other words, the frontline is my life. We understand each other, I know all the problems that our servicemen, soldiers, and officers experience,” he added.

Syrskyi ended the candid interview by thanking Ukraine’s Western allies for their support. Switching from Ukrainian to English, he said: “Together we are stronger. Together we can win.”

At least 17 students have been killed and 14 injured following a fire in an elementary school dormitory in central Kenya.

The inferno occurred late Thursday at the Hillside Endarasha Academy in Kieni, in the country’s Nyeri county, Resila Onyango, a spokesperson for the Kenya National Police Service said. She added their bodies had been “burnt beyond recognition.”

She was unable to confirm whether the fire was under control, saying those details would be established by teams on the ground.

Kenyan President William Ruto on Friday offered his condolences. Describing the incident as “devastating news,” Ruto said “our thoughts are with the families of the children who have lost their lives in the fire tragedy at the Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri County,” in a post on X.

“I instruct relevant authorities to thoroughly investigate this horrific incident. Those responsible will be held to account,” his post continued, adding his government was “mobilizing all the necessary resources to support the affected families.”

The Kenya Red Cross also posted a statement Friday, saying it would provide “psychosocial support services to the pupils, teachers and affected families.”

The statement added that 11 children have so far been taken to hospital, with the area of the fire cordoned off by police.

Kenya Red Cross, alongside a “multi-agency response team,” is currently on the ground responding add has set up a tracing desk at the school, the statement continued.

This is a developing story and will be updated.